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This chapter builds on the ASP.NET concepts presented in the previous chapter. In this chapter we will look at the creation of Web-based user interfaces. Such interfaces typically present combinations of graphical components such as buttons, text fields, drop-down selection boxes etc. Traditionally building such a Web page has involved writing HTML, DHTML, JScript etc. in order to cause forms, tables and other Web page components to produce the desired layouts. However, the use of ASP.NET and the System.Web.UI namespace makes the creation of such Web pages much more akin to the creation of a GUI application as described in Chapters 23, 24 and 25.

Many important computer applications require that users be able to use them effectively with little or no formal training [1]. DRAGEN (Domain Restrictive Application GENerator) is a suite of tools which allows the designer of an application to automatically create interfaces to restricted application domains. It does this by providing a small set of stylised interface structures which help the designer to create the interface. The information with respect to the interface is stored in the database, as well as application data and the map of possible interactions. This paper provides an overview of DRAGEN and the underlying methodologies used in the development of DRAGEN.

The fixed nature of user interfaces to databases often means that they cannot easily be made to fit the requirements of a particular group of users or tasks. This paper looks at an approach to the interactive reconfiguration of such interfaces. Thus the creation of novel interfaces to the same database can be greatly speeded up and simplified. The paper shows how these concepts can be employed in the representation of schema design and queries to a semantic data model.

What do you get when you put a human centred technology into a human centred organization? The answer is the human user interface (HUI). Voluntary organizations are, almost by definition, human centred. This chapter looks at some of the issues that have arisen as PC level computing has been introduced into such organizations.